Coffee and Post Its
by periberi
Summary: Hiroki, coffee and series of unfortunate letters. oneshot, Shinji/Takako, Hiroki/Takako one-sided


**Title**: Coffee and Post Its

**Summary**: Hiroki, coffee and a series of unfortunate letters. (Shinji/Takako; Hiroki/Takako one-sided)

**Genre**: Romance/General

**Rating**: T (we have non-children healthy words because BR people swear like crazy)

**i.**

This preposterous story starts off with Hiroki Sugimura's fabulous failures in asking out the girl he likes, whom he has the kicks for—in a no pun nor a physical damaging intention, of course—and how he succeeds brewing romance from these failures, like how coffee is served on a breezy breakfast bonanza: black and strong.

Of course, he's not talking about himself and that girl he likes, no, no; he's too much of a kind-hearted boy and she's too much of a happy, vibrant, colorful, _pretty_ person to have such an absurd relationship, yes, definitely not. He's talking about—

"Mim's at it again."

Pretty girl, certified grade-A babe (according to Shinji's taste anyway) (1) Takako Chigusa looked to where her (_why am I only a_) best friend Hiroki Sugimura had been staring when he decided to stop in his walking and mimic a misplaced pole. She had been shuffling the contents of her bag that she almost tripped over when Sugimura stopped on his tracks so she decided she must make this attention-catcher whatever worth her near-death. She looked.

On Hiroki's locker, a big white paper was plastered on its door. It said in fierce red ALL CAPS;

"**ASK HER OUT."**

In this specific order, Takako let out a sigh, raised a pretty eyebrow (according to Shinji's taste anyway, again), looked at Sugimura, noticed him reddening like mad and then finally decided to strip off the note off the locker and make the locker feel naked while she was at it.

Hiroki had been sighing simultaneously while shoving people politely off his back (_"Show's over, let's see what tomorrow brings us"_) and got, from Takako's murderous grip, the poor note of Shinji's blunt pseudo-concern.

"This is the third time this week," Hiroki said deadpanned, folding the note and putting it inside his bag. He opened his locker.

"That's the third time in _three_ days," Takako retorted, emphasizing her point that Mimura and his stupid games had been shamelessly putting Sugi on the rumor mill by revealing the existence of a "her", which if she may add was still unknown even to Takako herself.

She should not be affected by the boys' idea of fun—if this was it, thank God she was a girl, because they were all kinds of insane and stupid it would be a shame. However, she was still Sugimura's best friend (yeah, stop rubbing it in); and that Mimura, who was supposed to be a friend of Sugi too, was making it all sorts of difficult for Sugi to more so do it. She _might _have to thank Mimura for this later since the more difficult for Sugi, the more impossible he was going to ask, but friendship and morals were supposed to overrule all objections.

This story then continues on Takako's homicidal intentions of revenge to one Shinji Mimura and how Hiroki Sugimura serves himself a cup of coffee, black and strong, that burns his throat all the way down his esophagus and his stomach down to his ass all the while leaving a bitter taste on his mouth.

**ii.**

"WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE YOU DOING?!"

Resident martial-arts Hiroki Sugimura wanted to shake the girl beside her badly just in case her brains decided to fall off themselves and tell him personally what they were up to. The owner of said brain was not speaking to him; she was reading Physics calmly while he was freaking himself out. It was very early in the morning and he had coffee and he thought that was stupid because he was beginning to become antsy.

Takako had gone earlier to school without him that day. He wasn't able to think of any reason why, until he found Shinji Mimura smirking in front of his locker door (with people behind him sniffing like they know something's bound to happen, and it's going to rock badass), reading a note with a very familiar handwriting.

His palms were about to meet his forehead in an effort to slap himself bad when Mim passed by him, a glint going definitely not NOT noticed in his eyes.

Hiroki had rushed off to the classroom fast enough to beat Takako's record in cross country in his fear, and he was delighted to see that Takako had been well, was still pretty, intact and most of all—with clothes. This meant only one thing: Mimura had not yet arrived.

Still, "WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE YOU DOING?!?"

Takako dropped her book and grinned. This was not going to be good. She grinned at him and it felt like forever until she said, "I was only doing you a favor."

The bell had rung and as if on cue, Mimura entered the classroom with the teacher in tow, smirking like he just had a quickie ten minutes before, and _oh boy, was that good._

**iii.**

The first thing that Takako Chigusa had thought off that particular next day morning was that there were too many fucking people in the lockers. She did not mean that people were fucking in the lockers of course; she meant that there were too many people and it was fucking her. However, that did not sound right still, at all, so she decided to see what the fuckery this was all about.

And damn straight, this was all fuckery. There was another note people were looking at, but this time it was no longer on Hiroki's locker. It was on hers. It read in fierce red font;

_"**Still bitter I kept your knickers? Time to hand it back I guess. **_

_**P.S. Don't be jealous"**_

There was an artwork after the message, an X inside a circle. Trust Shinji Mimura to be a smartass; she was reading Physics when she decided to post the revenge note on him in defense of Sugimura (who was notably missing in the scene) and now ace playboy was telling her he had observed her, alright, yesterday, because apparently he found a new toy. _Into the board, an X inside a circle_. Trust Takako to figure it all out.

For all those who couldn't follow with the gossip beating the speed of light, Takako had posted;

_**"NEWS FLASH: This "her" Mimura hadn't fucked yet. Asking Sugi to ask her for you is not going to make it dumbass"**_

Let the brewing begin.

**iv.**

In the weeks that follow, people in Shiroiwa Junior High had been confused. They were either a) witnessing a stupid highly-publicized yet highly-entertaining love quarrel; b) learning on a free course of grammar especially adjectives; c) experiencing modernized flirting 101 or d) had been bored to death since the event of sliced bread.

Takako and Shinji's letter exchange had been amusing at the very least. More people had dropped by in the lockers to see what the other had replied; some had taken on bets and worse, or not very much so, some had taken notes. Last week it had been an exchange of rumors (or some of them probably not) that had the people riled up and laughed their asses off;

_"**Mimura fucked Fumiyo"**_

_"**Wrong choice babe, got only eyes for you"**_

_"**Mimura fucked Yukie"**_

_"**I was just teaching Shuuya how to do it (but of course that's not true)"**_

_"**Mimura fucked Mitsuko"**_

_"**How come I'm still alive and pissing you off?"**_

_"**Oops, there goes all the girls in our class, and he fucked them all"**_

_"**Including the girl telling all these stuff, best I ever had, you tell them babe"**_

And the winner for that week was clearly Shinji Mimura.

The next week, they had resorted to clever adjectives and had received both fair warnings from the teachers. But who cared about the teachers when some people were actually learning their lessons outside the class, probably even better and more life-applicable;

_"**You lying piece of shit bastard in human form"**_

_"**And you're one hot PSYCHOTIC bitch, but still hot"**_

_"**Lowlife thriving on women's non-resistance against idiots called men"**_ (Many men disapproved of this.)

_"**Stuck-up virgin…want me to be your first?"**_ (Many women disapproved of this.)

_"_**_Fucktard womanizer selfish bastard who broke innocent people's hearts, and whoa even including men"_ **(Chisato Matsui, Sho Tsukioka and 20 other people like this.)

_"**Just as long as I don't break yours sugar honey babe, it should be fine"**_ (Niida Kazushi and 2 other people like this.)

_"**If you can have it to begin with, you stupid idiot jerk"**_

Clearly, Takako know more of her adjectives than Shinji ever learned in his whole school life. Of course he couldn't concentrate on learning when he was busy whispering passionate adjectives to women he bedded than applying them to essays and speeches.

This week's set had been the most stressful of all, even to those not directly involved. Hiroki Sugimura, to whom this story started from, had been too cautious about Mimura and Takako when they were with him—separately, thank heavens—because both of them had been asking what ammo to blast the other camp with. Mim never found out that _"womanizer"_ had been his proud suggestion and Takako never found out _"psychotic"_ was his too. After witnessing the bloody exchange of insults in the lockers with that electricity and passion on the notes almost too suffocating to bear, he decided to shut his mouth. He decided this week, judging from the beginning of it, it would be better to stay away and go fuck himself just so as not to care.

Shuuya and Mim's minions had been all well too happy to help in the same way that Yukie, just for the heck of putting some action in her and Shuuya's relationship, along with her minions had been helping Takako (not that she needed it).

This story had now more people involved and that only meant one thing: drama.

And damn straight, drama had been the theme this week.

"Sugi, help me out here, I'm not good at having retorts for this shit," Takako said, dropping herself ungraciously to her bed in frustration. Mim's Mesage that Monday Marvelous Morning had been;

_"**Why do you keep on saying these things, it's hurting me"**_

Heck, Mimura had that incredulous charisma that women who usually sided with her had shifted sides as easy as flip-a-coin. They were going on up a notch but she felt like she was a los—no, hell would freeze before she would lose to Mimura. She would find a reply that would floor him and probably even finish the whole thing off, even though admittedly (just a little, bitches) it was something to look forward to every morning and get her senses energized and fired up.

"Mim's good at lying, so you have to get on that gear to find something to throw back at him, and right at the head at that," Sugi said without leaving his eyes on the television set in his Tekken game; Hwoarang was badly losing to Nina. That bitch.

_Lying, lying, lying…!_

"Good god Sugi, your genius surprises me, I think I love you," Takako said, grabbing a piece of paper and a red marker to write off her latest bomb. Time to Turn the Tide to a Totally Titanic Tuesday, she thought.

When she was done, she was grinning happily but Hiroki's Hwoarang had lost to Nina and so he was utterly dismayed. That, and also he badly needed coffee at this late hour. Something was not right and that was probably the fact that drinking coffee was starting to become a bad habit.

**v.**

_"**Because you're always lying to me"**_

"That girl, she's too fucking awesome," Mimura had said in between laughter and choking, all the while holding the note in his hand.

Shuuya, Yoshi and Yutaka had laughed along and had been endlessly spouting possible retorts to him (_"Believe me when I say, I love you"_ was from Shuuya's over optimistic nature and music inclination, singing it even in a mock Ewan McGregor's Christian rendition (2); _"I always like to lie next to you"_ was from Yutaka who had really misunderstood the context, though Shinji had liked the slight distortion; and Yoshi's_ "Can we just get over this and kiss and make-up?"_ because somehow, although he had been enjoying this too much, he wanted to see how it would end.)

The boys had been laughing except for Hiroki Sugimura who had vowed to keep his mouth shut on this week's charade. He had been craving for coffee once again; its soothing, calming effect—its comfort. Somehow he had not been feeling it. He should have stopped Takako when he had the chance but now it was too late. Somehow, his gut feel was telling him he knew how this would end up. And by that time, coffee would really be a good company.

Shinji did not miss the silence of the martial artist and understood perfectly what the silence meant. Somehow, he knew how this would end up too.

**vi.**

The week was about to come off to a close and Fabulous Friday had brought advantage to Shinji from his Thunderous Thursday post-it. Suddenly, he felt like grinning from ear to ear. The note Takako had oh-so-innocently posted that day had been the catalyst for him to change gears and now, he decided it was time to work it.

He had liked Takako all the way back since the first time he saw her. First day of class, she was hard not to notice despite Mitsuko's apparent charm. First day of class also, he had decided to back off since Sugimura seemed like a nice guy. Shinji _might_ be a womanizer, Takako probably was right, but he was no home wrecker (heck, there was no home to wreck anyway but whatever). Sometime later he found out they were just friends, as Hiroki himself told Shinji (3).

It amused him all the way that he had actually kept his stupid inner word despite him thinking over breaking it and breaking it good lots of times—that 'waiting for the right opportunity to strike'. Takako Chigusa had an aura that she was never the type of girl to screw over or death would sound sweeter, but despite the violent promises of eternal hell, she was also the type worth working his ass harder than usual for. Good lord, he was not working hard for any woman at all, come to think of it. That body, that face, that humor, that attitude—she might be the answer to that question her aunt had asked him after his uncle's death; that, or she was the closest he could actually settle for.

So for ace player, and playboy, Shinji Mimura, this was opportunity serving him up real good right in front of the face. His note had said;

_"**I'm not lying when I say I STILL like you"** _(which is actually very very very true, in his mind)

And Takako had replied to challenge him, all too much obviously;

_"**Prove it"**_

And he was never to back down, nor quit on a challenge. Now, only one more cue…

**vii.**

"Sugi."

"Yeah?"

"I have a question."

"Shoot it."

"Yeah, speaking of the devil himself…is Mimura really that interesting?"

To say that Hiroki Sugimura had his eyeballs out of his socket would have been an exaggeration; he believed he popped them for real. He wondered why it was his eyes that failed in functioning though and not his ears although if it were his ears then he might have regretted it big time because she wanted to hear what Takako was supposed to say.

"I mean, is he always this stupid?" Takako said flippantly, her hair falling down her face as she stood from her lying position. Her room had been witnesses to all kinds of shit lately, he mused, but this one brought home the bacon and chewed it good.

"How come?" Sugi asked cautiously, trying to avoid showing his discomfort, amazement and probably something of a little else.

Takako had scooted closer to Sugi, a grin splashed across her pretty face. She put on a finger under her chin as if on a manner of thinking, only in a mocking manner of thinking.

"Well, I'm sure he's going to do whatever stupid idea he can come up with, and that would only put me on a ridiculous advantage. Say, he asks me out," Takako then put her hands on her chest, "that actually gives me a means to kill him for what he did! Stupid fucker."

Takako put on a smug face, obviously very pleased with herself. Sugi looked at her in a mix of concern and worry.

Tomorrow, they would know.

**viii.**

Hiroki had taken the liberty to go to school early before the Takako-Mimura Flirting 101 episode of that day would come to its programmed airtime. He went straight to the locker doors and noticed that some of the recent notes were still posted in both Taka and Mim's lockers, probably stuck there for eternal immortalization or entertainment preservation, he actually didn't know.

For the nth time in this story, Sugi had felt something that was bound to happen that might not really be a good thing for himself; something that could be, sometime in the near future, be very well acquainted with coffee.

He suddenly felt the urge to end this soon, or probably propel it to end, whatever would come first. And he resolved, since this story started from him, might as well make the end come from him too; you know, for good character and plot justice.

In an all too familiar setting, Hiroki fetched a marker and a paper for him to write on. In very careful non-familiar handwriting, he wrote the words that would probably brew his coffee good: black and strong.

Sugi knew well for himself how truthful Shinji had been when he asked about him and Taka—his intentions had been very well clear; at the very least, it was established that he was interested in his best friend enough to bother asking when all other girls were just begging for the player's attention. Sugi also knew well for himself how much Mimura loved scheming in a good way, doing right by someone, yeah, and he was almost pretty sure he knew where this was heading.

The martial artist knew very well too how much vanity Takako had inside her being, and that she had too much pride, and that she was never a quitter, and that she was also stubborn. If Mim's going to play it his way, Takako's going to also play it her way.

Sugimura Hiroki knew very well for himself, that both of them didn't know that they were playing it in ways they would both very much win.

Coffee in the early morning sounded about perfect. He pasted the note to Mim's locker and walked away.

**ix.**

Mimura felt a strange sense of déjà vu on what he saw on his locker that morning. He was about to post the note due for Takako that week, but caught on what was posted on his instead. It read in fierce ALL CAPS;

"**ASK HER OUT."**

All the people were trying to take a peek on the note posted by the mysterious third wheel. The lockers had been busier than usual. Shinji Mimura had taken a good, long look at the post before grinning for himself when Takako had arrived and was surprised when she saw the unusual number of onlookers. She was more than surprised though because no note was posted on her locker, but then she decided against it and concluded that she was more surprised for having to expect on having one in the first place.

Takako and Shinji locked eyes for a brief moment until the hottest boy in town made his exit, leaving the note for people to speculate on. Yukie came to the scene with Shuuya, and then she promptly screamed in delight, giggled, took a pen and a paper, and posted something beside the note on Mim's locker.

Let's just say, by the end of the day, when Sugimura passed by on the lockers, the cabinets had been full of notes on Shinji's end echoing the same thing Hiroki himself, in stealth, had said.

Apparently, as Facebook would put it, _654 people like this_.

**xi.**

The next few days, the note exchange had temporarily (still in question) stopped. The number of post-its on Mim's locker saying the same damn thing since Monday (and it was Wednesday already) had apparently increased but neither of the active participants in this game had given their say about it. Obviously, people had been expecting Mimura, the ever lover boy, to do something from his end; and actually, in this group of people, Takako Chigusa was included.

Of course, she was more than happy to gloat (to Sugimura mostly) that people had been supporting Mimura's stupid flight because according to the sprinter, Mimura would obviously do it and people had been unknowingly supporting his death.

The tensioned silence had been broken when Friday morning two notes were found in Mimura and Takako's lockers respectively.

Shinji Mimura had taken all the other notes except that from the mysterious third wheel's that was originally posted in his locker. As everyone else had predicted, the note on Takako's locker had said in fierce ALL CAPS;

_**"Saturday, ice cream and a chance to rekindle our love sound good?"**_

People had not noticed though, the other note that was posted on Mimura's locker posted by Mimura himself. Either they were crying, giggling, and going, oh well shit, time to get back to the classrooms, on the note on Takako's locker. Takako with a very bored Hiroki had come; Hiroki almost feared for his life when Takako grinned very very very widely with so much pleasantness at the sight of her locker door.

Trying for life preservation as the reason for running away, he scooted from the scene and was able to notice the note on Mim's locker that had said;

_"**That's the way to do it**_

_**P.S. Thanks Sugi, I'll do right by her"**_

Oh shit, Sugimura told himself. He found out it was me, shit. Trust Mimura to screw him bad, and crumpling the note in his hands way too hard all the while seeing Takako's look of amusement with a hint of malicious happiness, Shinji Mimura had really screwed him bad this time.

**xii.**

Hiroki had told her best friend Takako that agreeing to the whole Mimura thing would probably only lead to an end that was different from what they, or particularly she, were expecting. Takako was sure smug herself that she just brushed Hiroki off, told him to prepare his eulogy for Mimura, and then sleep.

Three months after, Hiroki had told her best friend Takako only three words. No, it was not "ASK HER OUT." More of like, _"told ya so."_

In exchange, she did not talk to him for three days.

Needless to say, the whole note exchange ended with quite an amusing resolution for many: Shinji Mimura had pleaded to monogamy.

Takako had arrived outside of the café where Sugi was waiting for her and he was right once again, like he had always been. Of course, Mim would be with her. _Of course. _From watching from afar he could tell that Mim had said something, which made Taka smack him right in the head. He figured they would be very much seem like a violent couple; after all, Taka herself shut Sugi up with a duct tape threat to his mouth when he was about to spit the word "romance" in reference to whatever she and Mim were having. She had termed it rather as, "murderous negotiations".

And she also said that she didn't know what **_it_** was either, truth be told, but she admitted with indifference that she liked it.

When Sugi asked about Shinji's plead to monogamy, Taka had only looked at her French tipped nails and said she did not know anything about that.

As the almost-couple approached Sugi on his table on a café, he drank the rest of his black and strong coffee that burned all the way to his ass, only leaving a strong sense of bitterness in the aftertaste of his smile.

This preposterous story then ends with Hiroki Sugimura's fabulous failure in asking out the girl he liked, whom he had the kicks for—in a no pun nor a physical damaging intention, of course—and how he sadly succeeded brewing romance from his own failures.

Not between him and the girl he liked, no no; but now he too, had been thinking of pleading monogamy to coffee.

**END**

**A/N: **

Longest one-shot ever written. Hurrah to me;

(1) Quoted and found in BR novel so consider it novel-canon;

(2) From El Tango de Roxanne, Moulin Rouge OST;

(3) Quoted and found again in BR novel and most definitely novel-canon.

This story is for the lovely **imjuzakyd. **Thank you for doing right by me. And to anyone who's reading this, forgive technical errors (grammar, spelling, run-on sentences etc), OOC-ness (first time so let it pass) and too much Shinji/Takako dripping in this story. This fandom is too little so let's share the love to everyone and what better way to do it than reviewing, am I right or am I right?

I also firmly believe that Shinji likes Takako. If anyone is against this, feel free to question me, but beware. XD


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